Mayor Al, don't take TV hunting shows as a total package of the hunting thing. As many years of hunting, as many other hunters as I have known? Nope, never heard of any honest hunter taking only a trophy head.

As near as I can tell, for most hunters it's a mix of meat and a decent rack on a buck. Sure, does are also important to those for whom the meat is the main deal.

I've had a couple of opportunities to kill a cougar, but I didn't. A buddy of mine got into money trouble so I bought his cougar skin for the cost of the taxidermist's fee. Saved me some hassle. And, I can just sit back now and be lazy about just observing, not shooting. They're around my home place on a halfway regular basis.

The coyotes compete with me for quail. So, I'll occasionally get ambitious and do some calling and pop a couple. Good enough. I like to hear the yodel dogs sing.

Prairie dogs? Ask an alfalfa farmer what a 20% reduction in his income means. Or, if a tunnel collapses under a cow or a trained cow horse, how much money just went down the tubes?

But hunting a good place with a good group of folks, sitting around a campfire swapping lies? Hey, can't beat that for Good.

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